How Good Are You At Juggling?
April 24th, 2013 by Morna
Last week I noticed that one of my Facebook friends commented that she was juggling a lot of balls in the air. Can you picture yourself there? I certainly can. At any given time I have editorial duties for the magazine, content to write or deliver related to IAPQ, new orders to fill, lectures to prepare for Quilt Market, coaching calls with clients, not to mention the various balls I’m juggling as a wife, sister, aunt, friend, and homeowner or any other volunteer position I might have. It could truly make you dizzy.
And, I know your life isn’t any different than mine. How do I – and you – manage to juggle these responsibilities and not succumb to the falling balls? Here are a few tips:
1. Start with a list of our your responsibilities and relationships. For example, your work and what it entails; your family duties; your personal care needs, such as that massage or exercise; outside activities, such as church or your guild.
2. Write down everything you need to do currently. If you can get it out of your head and onto one list, you can get some control.
3. Once you’ve got your list, get the tasks into your calendar.
4. Set a deadline and set to work on completing the tasks. This lets you be in control.
5. Learn to set priorities. Not everything on your list needs to be done, does it? Be ruthless about what is really important and what is not. And be ruthless about which responsibilities and relationships are most important and when.
When I start to feel overwhelmed by all the juggling I have going on, I remember an interview I watched with news anchor, Diane Sawyer. She talked about how life is like juggling. We are juggling glass balls (family and health being two examples) and plastic balls (some of the less important stuff). She emphasized to make sure we didn’t drop the glass balls. The plastic ones could drop and not cause too much trouble. But the glass ones are a different story.
Please share your thoughts on juggling on the blog.
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Morna McEver Golletz is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Professional Quilters, an association to help quilters, fiber artists and other creative arts entrepreneurs build business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a F.R.E.E. subscription at http://www.professionalquilter.com.
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Robin Koehler said:
The glass vs. plastic balls is a great analogy. I do make lists, constantly. Do I accomplish everything on them? No. I keep a “Continuing List” at the bottom of my daily list for the items that need doing and I don’t want to forget about them.
Morna said:
Robin, Love your “Continuing List.” I have something similar in my notebook. It just gets it out of your head so you can concentrate on getting things done you need to get done without worrying you’ll forget that thing.